SHE took me by surprise. Though I had been stalking her through the dense undergrowth for about 40 minutes, I had lost sight of her as the afternoon light began to fade. It was getting late and I was about ready to call it a day when, just as I hit the crest of a shadowy depression in the mountainside, I caught a glimpse of her, a beautiful doe, the matriarch of a small clan that foraged behind her.

She saw me, too.

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As a kid my dad and I hunted with flintlocks, half the time they never fired from the powder being wet or something going wrong. My job when I was little was to watch the deer to see if it got hit since the smoke cloud leaves the shooter not knowing if they hit the target. The other thing you have to remember, as the author mentioned, is it takes time for that powder to ignite, you have to hold way past the trigger pull. With modern rifles they call it lock time. The time from when you pull the trigger until the sear releases and the firing pin strikes the primer. A buddy just missed a pig at FHL with his ML, he peeked too soon and missed at 15 yards. They are a ball of fun though, I'm looking to get back into shooting them again.

"I had hoped for a clean kill. But I had failed. I knew what had happened — I had flinched when the powder in the pan went off. Instead of hitting her in the heart or lungs, which would have killed her instantly, I had mortally wounded her. Now I would have to finish the job." Correct me if I am wrong but what's wrong with "mortally wounded"?
Sure it's nice to have the deer drop in it's tracks, kick a few times and that's that but often doesn't happen. I've blown the hell the heart and lungs and the deer still runs off-not that far mind you but they still run off. This is especially true with primitive weapons (muzzle-loaders/bow). The main objective is recovery the animal or make sure you missed. Nothing makes me feel lousy-er than knowing I made a shot and couldn't find the animal. It's only happened to me twice; once the animal was only nicked (I saw the animal some distance away) the other I shot low and broke it's leg. That animal was never recovered, it happen many-many years ago and I still get po'd about it!

__________________ "The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke speech of 23 April 1770, "Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents," delivered to the House of Commons.